Cortina, the semifinals are skipped. The championship is decided in February

Luca De Michiel

CORTINA

The championship semifinals are also slipping. It was predictable given the many infections and postponements in Alps, now it’s official.

Therefore, we no longer play this week, as per the initial program, but the fight for the Italian title has been postponed to the beginning of February, obviously hoping for a better situation from a health point of view.

The FISG, in light of the pandemic evolution found in recent days, which sees a strong growth in infections from Covid-19, and the presence of a series of positive Covid players within the teams waiting to participate in the IHL semifinals – Serie A has decided to change the dates and mechanism for assigning the 2021-2022 title of Campione d’Italia.

“The goal”, explain the Fisg president Andrea Gios, the Director Tommaso Teofoli and the LIHG president Marcello Cobelli, “is first of all to protect the health of athletes, technicians and staff as much as possible, but also to guarantee a as regular and correct as possible of the decisive phase for the assignment of the Scudetto ».

The spotlights were therefore off at the Odegar where race 1 of the semifinals between Asiago and Cortina would have to be played tomorrow, the same situation in Collalbo where Renon and Gherdeina were ready to fight.

The novelty, already decided by the Federation in the hope of a decrease in the infections present in the Italian teams, is that the championship will be awarded in February with a round robin between the 4 teams qualified for the final four.

During the so-called Olympic break of the championships, in the period between 8 and 12 February, the national title will be awarded at the end of an Italian round with Asiago, Renon, Gherdeina and Cortina as protagonists.

Each team will face three matches against all other opponents. The first two classified have the right to play two out of three games at home. At the end of the group the best-placed team will raise the 88th Italian title to the sky.

For Hafro, therefore, a further break from official competitions is expected.

After the postponement of the Alps League matches against Bregenzerwald and Jesenice, the Ampezzo players should return to the ice on January 20 against Kitzbuhel and then close the regular season by challenging Linz.

The team of coach Machacka was forced to stop in a good period of form, after 4 consecutive victories and while it was launched towards the first six positions of the standings. The goal is the top six, to qualify for the playoffs and the Master Round in order to avoid further complicated matches.

Two games remain, very affordable, to continue the transalpine championship in the best possible way.